The launch was among the best single-day openings for any mobile app on any platform, BlackBerry noted.

BBM also quickly rose through the rankings on the App Store to be the number one free app in more than 75 countries in the first 24 hours, including the US, Canada, the UK, Indonesia and most of the Middle East. User ratings in both the App Store and Google Play are overwhelmingly positive, earning BBM 60,000 five-star reviews on Google Play from about 87,000 reviews.

“This has been an incredible launch for BBM across Android and iPhone devices. The mobile messaging market is full of opportunity for BBM. We intend to be the leading private social network for everyone who needs the immediate communication and collaboration of instant messaging combined with the privacy, control and reliability delivered through BBM,” said Andrew Bocking, Executive Vice President of BBM at BlackBerry. or email address to a new or casual contact.

Bocking added that Android and iPhone users will have access to BBM Voice and Video calling “in the near future.”

BBM has more than 60 million monthly active customers who collectively send and receive more than 10 billion messages each day.

FreshBooks this week released a new resource to help self-employed professionals optimize their hourly rates. The Toronto-based accounting software company notes that roughly one-third of the workforce in the...